Long Update

Identical or Fraternal?

Of all twin pregnancies, 30% are identical and 70% are fraternal.

For those of you wanting a mini-science lesson, the midwifery student in me is dying to explain a little more.

Identical twins are actually "monozygotic" (MZ) meaning 1 egg, 1 sperm, then it splits.

Fraternal twins are "dizygotic" (DZ) meaning 2 eggs, 2 sperm, and no split. Well if it then split, it would be triplets. DZ twins are siblings of the same age.

Did you know there's a 3rd kind of twin... quite rare. "Sesquizygotic" (SZ) is when one egg splits and then the two halves are fertilized by different sperm. So they're fraternal from the dad's side but identical from the mom's side.

We are most likely having DZ twins. Because of late cycle ovulation and because of still breastfeeding, it's more likely to have 2 eggs pop out. Also, my OB studied the placenta(s) and showed markers in the placenta that point toward DZ.

We find out Mar. 16 what the genders are. We weren't going to find out, but now that it's two, I've just gotta know. If they are the same gender, then we'll do genetic testing to make sure of MZ/DZ. If they are MZ, it's good to know for future medical issues that may come up. If they are DZ, we have a 25% chance of them being boy/boy, 25% for girl/girl, and 50% for boy/girl.

Prenatal Care
I had planned on doing all prenatal care myself this time around. But at this point, I do need a care provider who will be willing to help me if we decide to have the birth at the hospital. I'm not sure how happy he's going to be when I go in next week, and I'd skipped my other appointment. Instead of going in every 4 weeks, I'm doing every 8. The reason? I don't want multiple ultrasounds and testing done. Pregnancy is not an illness and I'm not going to be treated like I'm sick. I called my midwife in Australia and she said, "Do not consent to any test unless something can be done with the results." I'm holding to that, especially with ultrasounds. My OB said, well we have to do an ultrasound everytime to make sure they're growing. Huh? And if they're not? Not like anything can be done about that!

BUT, it's not like I'm not getting any care. I'm doing it myself. And having fun. Every week, I check my weight, blood pressure, height of the uterus, check for babies' heartbeats, and urine. I can do all of that myself. All of which the doctor would do each time anyway. But I can do that myself w/out the ultrasound risks.

I found a heartbeat!
I was using my fetoscope last week to try to find heartbeats. 18 weeks is the earliest one can be used and I just happened to find one baby! Nice and loud and strong, but then the baby floated away. I think I found the other baby last night. I'm feeling more movement on my left side and very little on the right. By listening with the fetoscope, I can hear more placenta on the front side on my right, so that's probably what's blocking heartbeat and movement from the other baby.